


Matching a match

by Fandomthings



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Combeferre and Eponine getting together, Enjoltaire established relationship, F/M, M/M, Rated teen to be sure but could probably pass for general audience, matchmakers Enjolras and Grantaire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 07:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19901938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandomthings/pseuds/Fandomthings
Summary: Grantaire and Enjolras notice something about their best friends, and for once they’re the matchmakers.





	Matching a match

“Is it just me or were Eponine and Combeferre really weird tonight?” Grantaire asked one night after a meeting as both of them laid in bed, Enjolras with his head on the other’s chest. 

“What do you mean?” Admittedly, he’s not the most observant person, and he had absolutely no idea what his boyfriend was talking about. 

“I don’t know, they kept like, looking at each other and stuff,” Grantaire replied, gently going through Enjolras’ hair with his fingers. 

“What’s weird about that?”

“They weren’t just looking, they were  _ looking _ .” 

“Okay, so?” This whole conversation was going nowhere if it kept going like this. “Grantaire, you’re gonna have to use your words more if you want me to understand what you’re saying.” 

“You know,  _ looking?” _ He repeated himself. 

“I really don’t know.”

“What I’m saying is, I know how Eponine looks at people she had a crush on,” he clarified. “And I’m no Combeferre-expert or anything, but he was throwing quite a few glances at her. I’ve noticed Eponine’s looks for the past two weeks so it’s not just a one time thing either.”

Oh.  _ Oh.  _

“Eponine and Combeferre? You think so?” It wasn’t the strangest thought, he guessed. It’s not like they had absolutely no chemistry, for as far as Enjolras could tell people’s chemistry at least. But at the same time, he hadn’t really thought about the possibility either. 

“I do,” Grantaire was still lacing his fingers through Enjolras hair. “So what are we gonna do about it?”

“Nothing?” He propped himself up a bit now and turned his head to Grantaire. “It’s none of our business.” Even if he wanted to do something, Enjolras was by no means a good matchmaker. His take on romance was bad enough, it was a wonder he and Grantaire had eventually worked everything out. Helping others in romance? He doubted he’d be any good at it. 

“Do you think Combeferre will ever ask Eponine out on a date?” 

Enjolras thought about it. He had never seen Combeferre ask anyone on a date really, and the couple of times he dated it was always the other person who asked. Combeferre was rather introverted and liked keeping things to himself. Not a lot of people knew it but he didn’t have the highest self esteem either. “I doubt it,” he finally said. 

“Yeah, and Eponine isn’t gonna ask either. Not after the whole Marius fiasco,” Grantaire said. “So we need to do something. Subtly.”

No one had actually ever really cared to explain the ‘Marius fiasco’ to Enjolras, but he let it slide for the sake of this conversation. 

“I don’t want to meddle. It’s simply not out place,” because really, it wasn’t. This was between Combeferre and Eponine, not Grantaire and him. 

“Courfeyrac stuck his nose all in our business and we ended up fine, right?” 

Maybe he had a point. But just maybe. “We first need to figure out if they’re actually into each other in the first place before doing anything,” he decided. “And we aren’t very subtle people.”

Still, he wasn’t fully convinced about how good of an idea it actually was. 

“Right. You figure out Combeferre, I’ll figure out Eponine.”

“Right.”

This was gonna be interesting. 

—

The fact that he had gotten Enjolras to agree with this whole scheme was already further than he thought he’d get, honestly, but the fact that they both were to hang out with their respective best friends the day after was a coincidence. A lucky coincidence though. 

Eponine and Grantaire were sitting on her couch in her apartment, deciding on what movie to watch. 

Out of nowhere, he decided this was a good moment to bring it up. “So, Eponine. Tell me about Combeferre,” he looked up at her and grinned. 

To her credit, she gave little reaction. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t even try to deny it, I know you,” Grantaire knew very well this would get her. They both know keeping things from each other wasn’t something they could do, and lying to each other even less. 

She sighed. “Alright, you’ve got me. I like Combeferre. Happy?”

He looked down at the DVDs again, picking out his favourite of the two in front of him. 

“As a matter of fact, I am,” he smiled. “Sooo… any plans?” Came out sing-songy. 

Before he knew it, she chucked a pillow at his head, resulting in him dropping the DVD of  _ RENT  _ he was holding by now. “The disrespect!” He dramatically said while reaching back for the dvd. 

“Don’t even  _ try _ ,” she warned him. “I’m not asking out ‘Ferre.”

Inwardly, Grantaire grinned. He had all the information he needed to know. Outwardly, he just said “alright, whatever you want,” and put the dvd into the dvd player. 

“Don’t tell your boyfriend about this. And don’t meddle,” she finally said. 

He didn’t like going behind Eponine’s back at all, in fact it’d be the first time he’d do something like this. But this was for the greater good, or something. 

Grantaire also thought that Eponine very well knew there was no way he wouldn’t tell Enjolras. Maybe that was just good hope on her part.

“So, why Combeferre? He doesn’t really seem like your type at all,” he ended up changing the subject only slightly. Eponine’s types were, well… he wasn’t sure how to classify people like Marius and Montparnasse into one category, but whatever it was, it wasn’t Combeferre. At least Grantaire knew he was a good guy who probably wouldn’t hurt his best friend literally ever.  _ Everyone _ trusted Combeferre with their lives. 

She sighed. “Are we really talking about this?”

“We are.”

“Right,” she snatched the DVD out of his hand and stood up to go towards the DVD player. “I don’t know. He’s cute I guess. And funny too. Smart as fuck. It just happened,” she said with her back towards Grantaire, clearly being a bit embarrassed by where this conversation was going. 

“I didn’t even know you two talked all that much.”

“Maybe if you weren’t all googly eyes over your boyfriend every night you’d notice these things,” okay, maybe he deserved that. 

“It’s not  _ that  _ bad!”

“Whatever, at least he’s all googly eyes over you too.”

—

Enjolras wasn’t exactly sure how to bring this whole thing up, if he was being honest. Combeferre was his best friend, sure, but it’s not like he had  _ seen _ the ‘looks’ Grantaire was talking about himself. And if he did, he doubted he’d have actually noticed. There’s a reason Courfeyrac always called him dense. It wasn’t even only Courfeyrac, half of his friends had called him dense at one point or another. 

“Grantaire is at Eponine’s right now,” he tried, looking for a reaction. 

“Okay?” Combeferre looked a bit confused at the statement. 

“They like each other a lot,” as if not everyone knew Eponine and Grantaire were best friends. 

“Yea?” 

“Not like, you know, just as friends of course,” Enjolras awkwardly went on. 

“I’d hope so?” Was the reply, still as confused as before. 

_ Aha.  _ “And why is that, that you hope they’re just friends? Is it because you like Eponine?” He mentally facepalmed as soon as he realized what he had said. Of course that wasn’t the reason. 

“No?” Combeferre questioned. “Mainly because he’s your boyfriend and as far as I know you’re in a monogamous relationship. Do you think Grantaire is cheating on you with Eponine?” He then raised an eyebrow. 

“What? No, of course not!” Enjolras said quickly. This really wasn’t going as planned. Not that there was a plan. “Just, urg, nevermind,” he buried his head in his hands for a second, thinking about how to bring it up properly. “Do you like Eponine?” Was the best he could finally bring out. “Like,  _ like _ like?” 

Another mental facepalm. 

“Is this what this is about?” Combeferre almost chuckled. “God, Enjolras, I’m your best friend you could’ve just asked me like that.”

“Just answer the question,” he grumbled. 

Combeferre pressed his lips to a thin line for a second and readjusted his glasses, as if he was still debating on what the answer is, even if he had just said the whole ‘you could’ve just asked’. So much for just asking. “Yeah, I guess so. Was it that obvious? I didn’t think I was being obvious.” 

“Not really, I didn’t notice. But I’m pretty dense so,” he admitted. “It was Grantaire who brought it up.”

At this however, the other looked slightly alarmed. “Did he tell you to ask me that? Did Eponine say something about that? Wait, is he gonna tell her? Tell him not to tell her!” He rapidly said. 

“He’s not gonna tell her,” Enjolras quickly reassured him.  _ At least not for now _ , he thought. He didn’t answer Combeferre’s first question. “But maybe you should?” 

That would still be best case scenario. The less Enjolras had to meddle in this, the better. The less bad he would feel about going behind his best friend’s back too. 

Combeferre, relieved by Enjolras’ answer, let out a small laugh. “I don’t think I can.”

“Why not? What’s the worst that could happen?” 

“Getting rejected? Her hating me? I don’t know, a lot?” It wasn’t how Combeferre normally spoke, but they didn’t normally speak about these things anyway. Still, it was weird seeing his friend this unsure about things. 

“Maybe she asks you out one day,” Enjolras shrugged, not wanting to pressure his friend to do it anyway. “Who knows.”

“I doubt it, I’m-“

“Don’t even finish that sentence!” Because he was  _ not  _ gonna sit here and listen to his best friend talk badly about himself. “It’s her loss if she doesn’t like you, really.”

“Enjolras, do I have to remind you how you pined for Grantaire for months?” 

Enjolras almost winced, cringing at the thought. Admittedly, he was probably pretty insufferable at the time. 

“No.” 

“Don’t tell Courfeyrac, I love him but you know how he gets sometimes with these types of things.”

Everyone knew all too well how Courfeyrac could get with these types of things. He couldn’t talk badly about it though because Courfeyrac was kind of the reason Grantaire and him were together, but once Courfeyrac had a plan, he was unstoppable. 

In fact, maybe it should be Courfeyrac planning this whole thing out with Grantaire, not Enjolras. They’d be so much better at this. 

“I won’t, but he has a nose for these types of things, you know,” he warned him. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he figured it out himself.”

“Yea, I know,” Combeferre smiled. 

  
  


—

“It’s confirmed, Ep likes Combeferre,” Grantaire said when he came finally home much later. He threw his jacket on a chair and set himself next to Enjolras on the couch. 

“‘Ferre likes her too!” He confirmed. 

“Well, not to be that person, BUT,” and Enjolras already knew what was coming next. “I was right.”

“You were,” he rolled his eyes, but snuggling closer to his boyfriend meanwhile anyway. 

“I take it Combeferre isn’t gonna ask her out?”

“Nope,” that clearly wasn’t happening. “So what now?” 

“You tell Combeferre to meet up at the cafe. I’ll tell Eponine the same. And then we don’t go.  _ Et voila _ , date!”

Grantaire looked excited about the plan and Enjolras really wished he could say the same. 

“I don’t know, isn’t that a bit mean?” Because really, wasn’t it? He was basically lying to his best friend if he did that. 

“How? They like each other right? We’re doing them a favour, believe me!”

Enjolras let out a small laugh. “You sound like Courfeyrac.”

“... oh my God I really do,” Grantaire realized. 

“I’m just not sure how I feel about going behind Ferre’s back with all of this.”

There was a silence that stretched between the two of them for a while, before Grantaire finally spoke up again. “Do you think Combeferre will be angry about it?”

“Probably not really, but disappointed maybe,” it took a lot to get Combeferre really angry though. A  _ lot _ . So did it really count? And a disappointed Combeferre is way worse, in Enjolras’ humble opinion. 

“If you don’t want to then we won’t,” the other said, lightly kissing his cheek. 

On one hand, a relationship blossoming between Combeferre and Eponine seemed pretty likely if the two of them stepped in now. On the other, disappointed Combeferre. 

In the end, Grantaire’s plan won. 

— 

Enjolras was not good at keeping things from Combeferre at all, much less lying to him. The fact that the other had been suspicious when he said they should meet tomorrow at 6 with absolutely no explanation whatsoever didn’t surprise Enjolras.

“Just please come?” He had tried. 

“You’re planning something.”

“No, I’m not!” 

After a while of talking in circles, Combeferre had dropped it anyways, knowing it was a lost cause. 

—

  
  
  


_ From: Ep _

R you little shit

_ From: Ep _

i’ll get you back, just you wait

— 

_ From: Ferre _

Enjolras, care to explain why you aren’t here yet?

_ From: Ferre _

And why Eponine is here?

_ From: Ferre _

*sigh*

_ From: Ferre _

I guess I could’ve seen this coming

—

“I trusted you!” They heard a door fly open and Eponine shouting. “I can’t believe-... oh Enjolras, you’re here too, good!” She said, turning to Grantaire anyways. 

Maybe they shouldn’t have given her a spare key to the appartment. 

“Look, Ep, I-“

“I don’t want to hear it! I specifically asked you not to tell him!” She pointed at Enjolras. “And to not meddle!” 

Grantaire himself grinned though. “But anyways, how was the date?”

“Don’t change the subject!”

“Go on, you were gone long enough,” he grinned as he nodded towards the big clock on the other side of the living room. 

She let out a loud sigh. “It was amazing and we’re going on a second date but that’s not the point!” 

Grantaire could see Enjolras’ grin starting to form now too. 

“You’re welcome,” he leaned back a bit, crossing his arms. Frankly, he hadn’t expected Eponine to be happy or thrilled by any means, but at least their mission was a success. 

“Whatever,” she rolled her eyes and also crossed her arms, opening her mouth for a second like she wanted to add something, but promptly closing it again. Then, she stormed out of the apartment again. 

“Mission accomplished,” Grantaire smiled brightly at Enjolras. 

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write this and explore Combeferre/Eponine some more so this is that! If you’ve reached this far, thank you so much. Like always, kudos and comments are always welcome! ^^


End file.
